“Put simply: sleep – a consistent seven- to nine-hour opportunity each night – is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day, and the reason I revere and adore sleep (scientifically and personally)”
Matthew Walker

This article, published in the Guardian in early 2019, warns of the numerous negative impacts of not getting enough sleep. Which ironically, is enough to make the worriers amongst us lay awake at night thinking about how we’re contributing to future weight gain and Alzheimer’s.

But there is something to be said for the importance of sleep and the benefits that it can have if we’re able to regularly sleep seven to nine hours a night. So this week we’re asking, what simple habits can we put in place to help ourselves sleep ‘well’?

Both The Sleep Foundation and the NHS list a variety of tips that support sleeping well. A lot of these will be familiar things that we’ve heard before; reduce blue light on an evening, put a relaxing bedtime routine in place, make sure your bedroom is the right temperature. As we think about these we’d like to suggest that simply doing all of these thing isn’t best for our wellbeing. To make time and space for good sleep and to invest in our wellbeing, we need to take these tips and make them work for us:

Understand you
We are all wired differently which means that falling asleep works differently for all us. My husband usually unwinds in bed by scrolling through his phone, with the bedside light on and then promptly falls asleep as soon as the light is off. I, on the other hand, need to have some time away from my phone, usually reading and a dark space to fall asleep. Do you know what makes your body relax into sleep?
Be realistic
Putting 17 different tips in place in one day isn’t practical. Neither is planning to go to bed at 9pm every night if you know that 3 nights this week you have social plans that will see you out until 10pm. One thing started well this week is going to have a longer lasting impact than five things started half heartedly; I say that from the perspective of someone who likes to go all in and usually gives up after three days!
Start well and be consistent
Research has shown that it can take anywhere from 18 – 254 days to establish a habit; the average is usually around 66 days. The length of time often depends on the habit we’re trying to form. Key to that are those first few days. However you choose to make a step towards sleeping well this week, schedule it in and make time to start well. If this week doesn’t look like that’ll be possible, start next week. The odd day missed here or these doesn’t matter too much but there does need to be consistency for the habit to become second nature.

As this report by Public Health England highlights, better sleep is the biggest single contributor to better living so we think it’s worth prioritising time for getting our zzzz’s in. Do you have some healthy habits in place already that support you to sleep well? Share them with us so we can share them with others!

Cover photo by twinsfisch on Unsplash